Mr. Heartland (manga)
| appears_in_manga = Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL | gender = Male | occupation = * Mayor of Heartland City * Director of the Heartland Theme Park }} Mr. Heartland is a character appearing in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL manga. He is the person in charge of relaying Dr. Faker's orders to Kaito Tenjo and is the current director of the Heartland Theme Park, as well as one of the main antagonists. Design Appearance Mr. Heartland is usually seen wearing a green suit, yellow shirt, and orange tie. He also sports a pair of stylish orange glasses with a crimson "V" shape (similar to a heart) in the center. His hair is a similar green to his suit with a lighter green fringe. In Heartland Theme Park (and when he Duels with his "Land Power" Field Spell Card), he appears wearing a golden suit covered in pink hearts identical to his anime counterpart's costume during the World Duel Carnival. With this costume, he also wears a top hat with a similar style as well as a bow tie covered in spots. Personality To the people of his city, Heartland appears to be a benevolent, fun-loving leader (this depiction especially apparent in his appearance as mascot for Heartland Theme Park). However the real Mr. Heartland is a cunning and heartless ruler, secretly in league with the malevolent designs of Dr. Faker. He fiercely defends his secrets and is not above killing those who find out the truth about what he does to protect himself. He does have another, more flamboyant and vain side connected with his Heartland Theme Park; of which he describes himself as the "Star." Like his anime counterpart, he also occasionally uses the catchphrase "Heart Burning!" In his Duel with Kyoji Yagumo, Heartland's true nature is revealed as that of a depraved and greedy con artist. His specialty was worming his way into the confidence of those who were close to death and extorting their fortunes, with 689 victims to date. He began working with Faker in order to steal the limitless energy machine Faker was developing with his assistant Luna. During this time, he hacked the database of the pharmaceutical company that made Faker's medication and used it to extort even more victims. When Faker eventually succumbed to his illness and died, Heartland hid his death and continued running Faker's operation on his own. He also ended the attacks on Astral World because he feared its destruction would destroy Earth as well. Abilities When Dueling, Mr. Heartland cheats using a trick he dubs "Mind X-Ray" which allows him to check the Deck of his opponent remotely. While Mr. Heartland goes to lengths to mystify his "power," Mind X-Ray is really nothing more than a parlor trick made possible through the use of an X-Ray camera Heartland has built into his D-Gazer, which gleams while in use. Mind X-Ray functions similarly to Pegasus' Mind Scan power in that it is (at least on the surface) limited by the opponent's knowledge of their Deck and cannot detect the true form of cards whose form is unknown to the opponent. Mr. Heartland's glasses also have a mechanism which enables him to see Astral, though not fully. It is also to be assumed they have some kind of mechanism to function as a Duel Gazer, as he has several times viewed Duels without the aid of an actual Gazer. Etymology Mr. Heartland is the mayor of Heartland. Whether the location was named for him or if he adopted the name upon becoming its mayor is unknown. Biography History away.]] One day, under Dr. Faker's orders, Mr. Heartland went to a small, wooden villa, where the brothers Kaito Tenjo and Haruto Tenjo lived, and took Haruto away by force, saying that he had a special power within him. Kaito tried to rescue Haruto, but Mr. Heartland fled by car. Some time later, when he went to Mr. Heartland's place, Haruto initially doesn't recognize him. Kaito hugged him and asked Mr. Heartland what he did with him. Mr. Heartland explained that Haruto had the power to communicate with the spirits of Astral World, and that they needed him to destroy it, or the human world wouldn't be saved. Kaito told him to return Haruto back to normal, and Mr. Heartland said that his soul had probably already left, but that there was a way to heal him, which was to become a Number Hunter and collect all the "Number" cards. At that point, Haruto caught a butterfly with his hands and crushed it. Shocked, Kaito accepted Mr. Heartland's order. Several days later, at Heartland Tower, Mr. Heartland told Kaito that he'd be sure to convey his passionate heart to Dr. Faker. He added that Kaito should go see Hart, as it's been a while - and it would surely boost Kaito's will as well. After Kaito left, Heartland turned around and addressed Dr. Faker through a circular monitor. He told Faker that everything was progressing well. Faker responded that that's fine and that the life of Kaito's younger brother was on the line for him. Faker stated that Kaito had given up his humanity to protect Hart, just as Faker had given up his to protect the city. Faker said that he knew a messenger would be sent from Astral World and that he would crush it thoroughly, sending its remains back to their world. He claimed it's the only way to protect the planet, to which Heartland said he understood. Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL .]] Mr. Heartland is currently the owner and director of the Heartland Theme Park. After Haruto collapsed and Kaito became temporary inactive, he sent three assassins to secretly hunt the "Numbers" in the Park, acting like employees while obtaining the "Numbers" from the park's customers - Captain Corn, Thunder Spark and Cologne. He even allowed Duelists to enter for free to make the hunt for the "Numbers" easier. When Yuma Tsukumo and his friends from the Numbers Club went to the Theme Park in order to find "Numbers", Mr. Heartland sent his assassins to defeat him. After Yuma defeated the first assassin, Captain Corn, Mr. Heartland appeared to them, saying he wanted to collect the "Numbers" in order to destroy the "evil" Astral World, and calling Astral the "messenger". Before Yuma could ask anything, Mr. Heartland clapped his hands, making a trapdoor appear in the floor under Yuma, which sent him and his friends to the second assassin, Thunder Spark. Upon Thunder Spark's loss, Mr. Heartland convinced his last assassin, Cologne, to defeat Yuma. She initially hesitated, but Mr. Heartland threatened her by saying that if she didn't do as she was asked, she would go back to the way she was - a pitiful doll who was abandoned and sent to the disposal plant of Heartland. Cologne immediately decided to defeat Yuma. After Cologne's defeat, when Yuma and his friends were escaping the Heartland Theme Park, Kaito and Orbital 7 went to meet them. Kaito challenged Yuma to a Duel in order to obtain his "Numbers", but Mr. Heartland showed up from the upper stairs, interrupting them. Mr. Heartland smiled and orders Kaito to defeat the messenger from the Astral World in front of him. However, Kaito refused to follow his method, and triggered Orbital 7's self-explode mechanism, kicking him towards Yuma's gang, which destroyed part of the bridge. This made Yuma and his friends fall in the water under them, which allowed them to escape. Mr. Heartland told Kaito that this action was a big act of disobedience towards him and Dr. Faker. Kaito and Mr. Heartland, both irritated, stared at each other for few seconds before the former turned around and left the room, ordering Orbital 7 to go with him. After Shadow's failure, Heartland's hired agent Kyoji Yagumo decided to betray his employers. He told Mr. Heartland that he'll be following his own plan to destroy Astral World, which angered Mr. Heartland to the point of them Dueling each other. During the Duel, Heartland wielded a "Heart Monster" Deck based around the theme park he had made in his own image. He quickly gained an overwhelming advantage over Yagumo making use of the "Land Power" Field Spell. However, Kyoji turned the tide on Heartland when he activated his "Court Battle" card, and claimed that Mr. Heartland was to be prosecuted for his "sins" and that Dr. Faker was already dead. 's accusations.]] As the Duel continued, Heartland remained incredulous to Kyoji's claims. Kyoji elaborated on his earlier claim by calling "himself" to the stand, revealing a clone made up of small spiders ejected by "Number 70", which he was able to link his vision with. He explains that over the past year, no one had been allowed to see Dr. Faker in person, leading him to suspect something was amiss. He used his spiders to infiltrate Faker's lab and found a video recording made by the doctor as part of his research logs. In it, Faker remarked that after 1 year and 15 days since he began his attack on Astral world, he had made no progress, and his health was in rapid deterioration. Like his son, Faker was beginning to succumb to his own incurable illness and recognized that he did not have long to live. He claimed his only regret was that without him, no one would be left to cure his youngest son. Kyoji told Heartland he had realized that Faker was nothing more than a "pitiful father trying to save his sick son" and his natural death was being used by Heartland. Heartland continued to resist these charges claiming that he had nothing to gain. However Yagumo explained that Heartland's real goal was to steal the valuable limitless energy machine Faker was developing, in order to amass wealth for himself. Thus Heartland hid Faker's death from everyone– even Faker's own children. .]] Heartland maintained that Kyoji's charges were baseless, and used the power of his "No. 82: Heart Monster Heartlandraco" to make his monsters inflict lethal damage to Yagumo when destroyed. He also began using his Mind X-ray ability– which he claimed made him a genius con man– to scan Yagumo's entire Deck. Kyoji then revealed his Rank-Up Spell Card, "Rank-Up Spider Web", using it to summon "No. 14: Greedy Sarameya", which made short work of Heartland's monsters without taking damage. Heartland reacted in surprise, as that "Number" had not previously existed in Kyoji's Deck. He scanned once more, again finding no threats. Heartland responded by Summoning his "No. 52: Diamond Crab King", which failed to destroy "Sarameya". Heartland then asked Kyoji how exactly he "used" Faker. Kyoji revealed that Heartland had used his connections with Faker to hack the databases of the pharmaceutical company that made his life-prolonging medication to find other victims to swindle. He called Heartland out as a common con man who made his living by working his way into the confidence of those near the end of their lives to take their fortunes– with 689 victims total. Kyoji then asked Heartland what he promised Faker to gain his confidence; whether it was that he would take care of Haruto when he died or if the boy would be cured if he did as Heartland said (It was later revealed that it was on the promise that he would cure Haruto ). At this point Heartland revealed his true colors with a menacing grimace, telling Kyoji that he knew too much and couldn't be allowed to live. In response, Kyoji pointed out a spider on Heartland's shoulder that had revealed Heartland's "Mind X-Ray" as a dishonest trick made possible via an X-Ray camera. Yagumo then activated "Rank-Up Spider Web" a final time, choosing to summon a Blank "Number". He revealed that all "Numbers" took on forms that fit the desires of the Duelists who held them. However Kyoji's only desire was to see the world destroyed– a desire he calls "a wish as insubstantial as a single spider's web drifting on the wind." Thus all of Kyoji's "Numbers" remain blank as long as he holds them, only taking form when Summoned in a Duel. His "Numbers" evolved to fit whatever situation Yagumo found himself in, and even he didn't know the full extent of their power (explaining why Heartland's Mind X-Ray couldn't find any of his "Numbers"). Yagumo transformed the blank card into "No. 21: Frozen Lady Justice", which destroyed all of Heartland's Defense Position monsters. He also used the effect of "Court Battle", giving it enough power to defeat Heartland. Yagumo finally exclaimed that Heartland's real sin was not that he had merely deceived the Duelists in Faker's employment, but that he had stopped the attacks on Astral World for fear of the destruction of Earth. Yagumo insisted that the world deserved destruction and there is no value in its existence as he dealt the final blow. Heartland's ultimate fate is never seen, but when Yagumo reappeared before Kaito after the Duel, he carried Heartland's cracked glasses which, coupled with his earlier threats, implied that he has killed Heartland. Later, Kyoji created a duplicate of Heartland using his spider-clone powers in order to host the double Duel in the Heartland New Tower between Kaito and Yuma, and between Shark and Kyoji himself. Number Hunting Mr. Heartland used many subordinates of his and Dr. Faker to hunt for "Numbers". It is unknown if Mr. Heartland also hunted "Numbers" himself. The exact quantity of "Numbers" Mr. Heartland had in his possession is unknown, but he was revealed to have possession of at least 2 "Numbers": "No. 52: Diamond Crab King" and "No. 82: Heart Monster Heartlandraco", which he used against Kyoji. However, after losing the Duel, Kyoji procured Mr. Heartland's "Numbers". Deck Mr. Heartland uses a "Heart Monster" Deck, which similarly to the Toon Monsters, focuses on damaging the opponent with Direct attacks while keeping them protected from harm. Duels References Category:Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL characters